Last night I watched a re-run of an old super-hit Bollywood flick, Damini. The most memorable scene for me is when Govind (Damini’s lawyer) is approached by Chaddha (a corrupt lawyer) warning him to drop Damini’s case and leave the town or else he would regret his decision.
Least effected by Chaddha’s threats and his hired goon’s sharp sword; Govind simply flares his nostrils, points is heafty palm at Chaddha and produces one of the most powerful dialogues ever in Hindi Cinema.
He says, “Chaddha jab yeh dhai kilo ka haat kise pe padta hai toh aadmi uttha nahi utt jata hai”. Needles to say, Chaddha and his goons make a hasty exit from the screen.
But then this happened in reel life, in reality neither do we have men like Govinds who are ready to withstand any force inorder to attain justice for the needy nor do we have women like Damini, who give two hoots about the society and are even ready to sacrifice their family life just to attain justice.
However this situation seems to be changing and thankfully changing for the better. Today, finally Priyadarshini Mattoo has won her battle; a victory which has come nearly 11 years after her death.
The Delhi High Court has convicted Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a former IPS officer, in the Priyadarshni Mattoo case.
He was convicted on both counts of rape and murder.
Allowing the CBI appeal against the trial court verdict acquitting the accused, a Bench comprising Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin said “the acquittal order passed by the trial judge in 1999 has shocked the conscience of the judiciary.”
The Bench said it would prescribe the sentence of death or life imprisonment to the convict after Diwali vacation.
Priyadarshini Mattoo, a Delhi University student, was found murdered at her Vasant Kunj flat in south Delhi on January 23, 1996.
Hopefully this win will also have a positive impact on pending cases, for example Jessica Lall, Manjunathan, Satyendra Dubey and many more. And hopefully from now on it wouldn’t take a father or a sister a life-time worth of struggle and court-room hassles in their search for righteousness.
[...] Jessica Lall’s murder was shocking and painful just like Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder, just like Manjunathan’s brutal death and god only knows how many more that are today just part of India’s shinning statistics. But the corruption syndrome is so deeply gutted in our lives, in our system that it not only bends the prescribed law but so darn earn easily moulds it to ones convenience and desired outcome. [...]
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